Filipino artist Gromyko Semper paints elaborate scenes with many magical realism elements. His detailed works are flat and often resemble illustrations, evoking a mixture of pre-Raphaelite paintings and Japanese anime. The artist just completed a series of paintings inspired by the philosophical concept of mythopoesis, a term that JRR Tolkein and scholar Joseph Campbell proliferated in the early 20th century. Mythopoesis refers to a work of art that creates its own mythology. With Semper’s paintings, that certainly seems to be the case, as he has developed an elaborate visual language that taps into themes like pleasure, mysticism, and death. Currently, Semper has a two-person show with Gilbert Semillano at Artspace @ Net Quad in Manila.
